This weapon was a joint Army/Navy project. The Navy version was too lightly constructed and hence suffered from weak barrels and poor ballistic qualities. The Army weapon was a heavier design with good ballistic qualities, but had very primitive mounts that restricted their rate of fire.
By 1901, OSZ had delivered 30 guns of which 27 were installed on ships. By 1917 there were only ten guns on hand on Naval Ministry charts, of which four were installed in the battleship Rostslav.
The Army had a large number these guns in coastal batteries, including one battery of five guns at Port Arthur in 1904 and another in the Moonzund area in 1917. These guns were the main coast defense weapons of the Russian Navy from 1892 to 1914.
The Russian pre-dreadnoughts Admiral Senyavin and General-Admiral Apraksin were captured following the Battle of Tsushima (Battle of the Japan Sea) and became the Japanese Mishima and Okinoshima, respectively.
| Designation | 10"/45 (25.4 cm) Pattern 1891
254 mm/45 (10") Pattern 1891 |
|---|---|
| Ship Class Used On | Pobeda, Admiral Apraksin and Rostislav classes |
| Date Of Design | 1891 |
| Date In Service | N/A |
| Gun Weight | 22.2 to 27.2 tons (22.5 to 27.6 mt) |
| Gun Length oa | 450 in (11.430 m) |
| Bore Length | 432.4 in (10.983 m) |
| Rifling Length | 356.1 in (9.045 m) |
| Grooves | 68 |
| Lands | N/A |
| Twist | N/A |
| Chamber Volume | N/A |
| Rate Of Fire | Adm. Apraksin: 1 shot every 1.5 - 2 minutes |
| Type | Bag |
|---|---|
| Projectile Types and Weights | AP and HE: 496.5 lbs. (225.2 kg) |
| Bursting Charge | HE "old model": 18.3 lbs. (8.3 kg) |
| Projectile Length | 3.1 - 4.0 calibers |
| Propellant Charge | Most ships: 144.62 lbs. (65.6 kg)
Peresvet, Oslyabya and Rostislav: 133.38 lbs. (60.5 kg) |
| Muzzle Velocity | Most ships: 2,273 fps (693 mps)
Pobeda: 2,549 fps (777 mps) |
| Working Pressure | Peresvet, Oslyabya and Rostislav: 9.8 tons/in2 (1,730 kg/cm2) |
| Approximate Barrel Life | N/A |
| Ammunition stowage per gun | Admiral Ushakov: 99 rounds per twin turret
Rostislav: 80 rounds |
| Elevation | Range | Side Armor | Striking Velocity | Angle of Fall |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 degrees | 0 yards (0 m) | 13.50 in (343 mm) | 2,560 fps (777 mps) | 0 |
| 0.92 degrees | 2,000 yards (1,830 m) | 10.9 in (277 mm) | 2,200 fps (671 mps) | 1.06 |
| 2.07 degrees | 4,000 yards (3,660 m) | 8.66 in (220 mm) | 1,890 fps (576 mps) | 2.55 |
| 3.52 degrees | 6,000 yards (5,490 m) | 6.93 in (176 mm) | 1,615 fps (492 mps) | 4.79 |
| 5.36 degrees | 8,000 yards (7,320 m) | 5.55 in (141 mm) | 1,380 fps (421 mps) | 8.06 |
| 7.66 degrees | 10,000 yards (9,140 m) | 4.29 in (109 mm) | 1,200 fps (367 mps) | 12.70 |
| 10.50 degrees | 12,000 yards (10,970 m) | 3.31 in (84 mm) | 1,100 fps (336 mps) | 18.71 |
This projectile was in use during the Russo-Japanese War.
Data from "Gangut" Issue 7 article.
| Designation | Twin Turret Mount
All: (2) |
|---|---|
| Weight | Adm. Apraksin: 240 tons (244 mt)
Peresvet, Oslyabya (bow mount): 415 tons (420 mt) Peresvet, Oslyabya (stern mount): 365 tons (370 mt) |
| Elevation | Adm. Ushakov, Adm. Senyavin, Rostislav: -5 / +15 degrees
Adm. Apraksin, Pobeda, Peresvet, Oslyabya: -5 / +35 degrees |
| Rate of Elevation | N/A |
| Train | +135 / -135 degrees |
| Rate of Train | N/A |
| Gun Recoil | N/A |
| Loading Angle | Adm. Ushakov, Adm. Senyavin: +7.5 degrees
Peresvet class: +10 degrees |
"Entsiklopedia Otechestvennoi Artillerii" (Encyclopedia of Fatherland [Russian] Artillery) by A.V. Shirokorad
"Gangut" Issue 7 article by S.I. Titushkin
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Special help from Vladimir Yakubov
05 December 2006 - Benchmark
17 June 2012 - Added remark about use by Japanese
16 January 2014 - Added photograph of Probeda
10 November 2021 - Updated to HTML 5 format